Both Russia and Ukraine have been dominating media headlines for some years now due to their protracted war.
Since the beginning of the war, major news outlets have focused attention on the two countries, exploring every development related to them in the quickest possible time.
Most of these stories gain immediate global attention.
The reason is that the two nations already have the world’s focus.
Whether the events are of global or national importance, major media outlets give them the lion’s share of publicity across all their channels.
One such case was the drone procurement bribery scandal, involving top security officials and a member of parliament.
The scandal was uncovered by the country’s anti-corruption agencies—the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialised Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP).
Kyiv announced the uncovering of a large-scale corruption scheme involving the purchase of drones and electronic warfare systems for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The BBC, in a story dated August 5, 2025, with the headline “Ukraine officials held in military drone corruption probe”, reported that President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was furious about the incident.
The scandal, which involved some top government officials and senior security officers, included state contracts with suppliers that were allegedly signed at prices inflated by up to 30 per cent.
President Zelenskyy, who responded to the incident in a post on X, wrote that there can be “zero tolerance” for corruption in Ukraine, and he thanked anti-corruption agencies such as NABU and SAP for their meticulous work in uncovering the bribery scandal.
In recent times, Zelenskyy’s government has faced extensive backlash after introducing a bill that sought to strip both NABU and SAP of their independence.
The president claimed the agencies needed to be “cleared of Russian influence” and sought to give the general prosecutor the authority to decide who should be prosecuted in high-level corruption cases.
However, the action was swiftly reversed following nationwide protests.
Prior to this drone scandal, media reports indicated that Ukraine had expressed readiness to assist Ghana in strengthening its border security using advanced drone technology, as part of the growing bilateral cooperation between the two countries.
A Graphic Online report titled “Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Ukraine open to helping Ghana secure its borders with drones”, published on July 12, 2025, said the development followed a phone conversation between Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Ghana’s President, John Dramani Mahama, during which the leaders explored deeper collaboration in areas such as agriculture, logistics, and military cooperation.
“Special attention was given to cooperation in the field of advanced technologies, particularly UAVs.
Ghana is interested in acquiring Ukrainian models for monitoring and surveillance to maintain security along its borders with the Sahel region,” the Ukrainian government said in an official statement.
Although the Ghanaian government has not yet confirmed the development, considering the drone scandal in Ukraine involving top government officials and senior security chiefs, this cooperation becomes more questionable.
The issue is whether Ghana, which is struggling to stabilise its economy, has the means to engage in such ventures, and if so, what its role would be.
Ghana cannot engage in any such venture, particularly on a subject that has become a matter of public scrutiny in Ukraine.
